Float type rain gauge



May 24, 1938. R. R, CHAPPELL ET AL 2,118,459

FLOAT TYPE RAIN GAUGE Filed May 21, 1935 INVENTORS. I

Patented May 24, 1938 g g I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOAT TXPE RAIN GAUGE.

Ralph R. Ghappell, Richmond, Va., and Rutger B; (felt; Baltimore; Md-., assignors to Bendix A-via-- tion Corporation, South Bend, Ind., a corpora tion of Delaware Application May 21, 1935', Serial No. 22,638

9- Claims. (Cl. 73151').

The present invention relates to rainfall. measthe invention will appear more fully hereinafter uring apparatus or rain gauges andmore particufrom a consideration of the detailed description larl'y to rain gauges of. the. floatv type f which follows, taken together with the accom- Heretofore, in connection with apparatus of panying drawing wherein one embodiment of thethis character, serious; difiiculties and. inconinvention is illustrated. It is to be expressly un- 5 veniences have presented themselves in cases. derstood', however, that the drawing is for the when apparatus of small measuring range, say up purpose of illustration and description only and to 5" of rainfall,. were exposed to. occasional is not designed as a definition of the limits of heavy rainfalls, or when they were. not inspected the invention, reference being had for this puri and emptied before their float, containers were pose to the appended claims.

filled. In such cases. the apparatus was over- In the drawing, wherein like reference charfiooded and rendered inoperative. In spite of the acters refer to like parts throughout the several above difficulties, however, it is undesirable for views, practical convenience and design to increase the Fig. 1' is a, vertical. sectional view of arainfall 1-5 size of the collecting container of. apparatus of measuring apparatus embodying the present inthis type since it would in turn necessitate correvention; sponding increase in. the size of the recording Fig. 2 is a sectional. view of the apparatus means employed, and as av result, the entire apshown in Fig. 1, the section being taken on line" paratus with the usual arrangement of parts 2-2. of Fig; 1; and

would be rendered unsuitable and. objectionable Fig. 3 is a perspective view, with a portion 20 in its proportions. On the. other hand, increasbroken away, of a detachable collector ring used ing the volume of' the float, container and, conwith the rainfall measuring apparatus embody-- sequently, the range of the apparatus by increasing the present invention. ing the cross-sectional area of its float container Y The foregoing objects are obtained in accordand thus providing for occasional heavy rainance with a feature of the invention. by providing 25 falls is equally objectionable, sincein this. case overflow containers, or tanks, into which the col the increase of the range. of the apparatus would lected water will fiow' after. the float container is be made at the expense of the accuracy of its filled, and measuring the contents of all conperformance in. the lower range of measurements tainers as one quantity.v

' in which the apparatus normally operates. Referring to the drawing, t e appar tu m- 30 Accordingly, it .is one of the objects of the bodying, the present invention comprises, in the present invention to. provide novel means whereform shown, an outside shell, or cylinder 4 proby a desired increase in the range of a. rainfall, vided' with a bottom plate '5 and a cover 6. The measuring apparatus. can be accomplished with.- cover 6 is provided with an opening adapted tov 5 out decreasing in the normal range of operation receive and to hold a collector ring 1 exposing the rise of the float per cubic unit of the. water a definite rain-collecting area. Said area may be collected, and withoutv increasing the outward of any suitable shape, circular shape being predimensions of the float container and/or the, size ferred for manufacturing and other reasons. of the record rolls. The collector ring 1, is provided with. a bottom 40 Another object of the invention is to provide part S0 Cons ruct d a d. arranged that the n 40 novel means whereby the rise of the float of a water collected by theexposeda-rea is thereby dirainfall measuring apparatus per cubic unit of rected to the receiving end of a conduit 8 and is water collected may be changed. in any desired, delivered through said conduit into a float conv proportion. tainer or collector tank l0. Thecontainer l0 may A still further object of the inventionv is to probe made of any suitable cross-sectional. shape but 45 vide novel means whereby the, scale, in which the its cross-sectional area must have a definite reamcunt of water collected is recorded on the lationship to the area of the collector ring. L It chart, can be varied in any desired way; is preferable to make; the ring 1 and the contain- A still further object of the invention isto proer H] of equal cross section of circular shape. The vide, in apparatus of the class described, novel float container I0 is provided with a float ll, 50

means which will prevent overfloodingof rainwhich float with the aid of a push-rod l2 and a fall measuring; apparatus of small'sizes and comstyle-carriage I 2' operates a recording-style l3 pact proportions during-unexpectedly heavy raincooperating with a chart I3a held on a clockfalls, or dueto delays in inspection- "driven drum M, the clock mechanism being con- 5 The. above and other objectsand advantages of tained in the casing Ma. No further description of the float, style-carriage, chart, and of the clock-driven drum need be given here, since they form no part of the present invention, and, consequently, may be of any suitable construction.

The float container I is placed in a close proximity to an overflow container H3. The height of the container 55 is substantially equal to that of the container l0, and its cross-sectional area has a predetermined relationship to that of the container ii]. It is preferable to place the container Ill eccentrically inside of the container l5, as shown in Fig. 2, both containers being made of circular cross section and the container [5 be ing made of such a diameter that the volume of that portion thereof which is not displaced by the container in is equal to the volume of said container II]. In other words, when both containers are filled, they hold twice the volume of what the container I0 is capable of holding alone. An opening I6 is provided near the top of the container 10, thereby permitting the water, when it reaches said opening, to overflow into the container I5.

Means are provided for effecting communication between the containers l0 and I5, and allowing for emptying both of said containers to the same predetermined minimum level which must be sufficient to float the float H. In the present embodiment of the invention, said means are represented by pipes ll, l8, a stand-pipe l9, and valves 20 and 2!.

In operation, valves 2!] and 21 being closed, the rain water is collected in the container l0, and if the ring 7 and the container l0 have equal cross-sectional areas, the float H rises 1" per 1 of rainfall and it is so recorded on the chart iiia.

During a heavy rainfall, when the container [0 is soon filled, the apparatus does not become flooded and inoperative, since the water is allowed to overflow through the opening l6 into the overflow container i5. At the time of inspection, if such a condition is found to exist, the water in both containers is allowed to come to the same level by opening the valve 20, Where:

upon the total amount of water in both tanks is indicated on the chart in 1 to 2" scale. If a heavy rainfall is anticipated, the valve 28 may be left open, in which case the record in 1" to 2" scale is continuously produced from the beginning of the operation of the'apparatus, the range of which thus becomes increased twofold. By attaching to the apparatus a ring 1 with the exposed area twice that of the ring I, the rise of the float will be increased to 2" per 1" of rainfall. The area of such a collector ring may be made of any relationship to the area of the float container, and consequently, the rise of the float per 1" of rainfall may be increased in any desired proportion. It should be expressly understood, however, that although only one overflow container is provided in the construction described, any practical number of such containers may be incorporated into a rainfall measuring apparatus in which case when the first overflow container is filled the water will begin passing into the second one, and so on; the final reading being taken on a corresponding scale.

There are thus provided novel means whereby flooding of rainfall measuring apparatus is made improbable; recording of the amount of rainfall beyond the range of the apparatus is made without sacrificing the accuracy of measurements within the range for which the apparatus is primarily intended and within which it is normally operating and whereby rise of the float per cubic unit of rainfall can be increased or decreased in any desired proportion without affecting the size and compactness of an apparatus.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is to be expressly understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but that it may be embodied in various forms. For example, different means effecting communication between containers may be employed, as well as other changes he made in sizes and their relationships, and in relative location of various elements of apparatus, as well understood by those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention. Reference will, therefore, be had to the appended claims for a definition of the limits of the invention.

What is claimed is: I

1. In rainfall recording apparatus, the combination of a float container, a float in said container, an indicator actuated by said float, an overflow container adapted to receive the overflow from said float container when the latter is filled, and means whereby the rain water in both containers may be brought to the same level.

2. In an. apparatus of the character described, the combination of a container provided with means operating to measure its contents continuously and to make a record thereof, and an overflow container adapted to receive the overflow from said measuring container, and means controlling the flow between said containers whereby the contents of both of said containers may be measured as one quantity by said measuring means.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, a float container adapted to receive the water collected and provided with a measuring float and recording means, an overflow container adapted to receive water from said float container when the latter is filled, .and means operated at will whereby said containers can be placed into communication with each other near their bottoms and whereby said containers may be emptied to a predetermined minimum level.

4. In an apparatus of the character described. the combination of a float container adapted to receive and to hold the water collected and provided with means including a float for continuously measuring and recording the amount of water collected, an overflow container having a volume equal to that ofthe float container and adapted to receive the overflow from said float container when the latter is filled, and means controlling the flow between said containers whereby said overflow may be measured as one quantity with the contents of the float container by the measuring means thereof.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a container provided with means for continuously measuring its contents, an overflow container having a height substantially equal to that of the measuring container and having a cross-sectional area of a predetermined relationship to that of the measuring container, said measuring container having near its top an opening leading into said overflow container, and means providing communication between said containers near their bottoms for emptying said containers to a predetermined minimum level.

6. In a rainfall measuring apparatus, the combination of a float container provided with a float,

an indicator actuated by said float, and an overflow container, both containers being made in the form of cylinders of substantially equal height, the float container being placed eccentrically in side of the overflow container, the volume of that portion of said overflow container which is not displaced by said float container having a predetermined relationship to the volume of the float container, the float container being provided near its. top with an opening leading into said overflow container; and means for establishing communication between said containers near their bottoms to bring the contents of both containers to a common level and for emptying said containers to a minimum level sufficient to insure floating of said float in the float container.

7. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a measuring container, liquid level responsive means for said container, indicating means actuated by said responsive means, an overflow container adapted to receive the overflow from said measuring container when the latter is filled, and means whereby the rain water in both containers may be brought to the same level.

8. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a measuring container, liquid level responsive means for said container, indicating means actuated by said responsive means, an overflow container having a volume equal to that of the measuring container and adapted to receive the overflow from said measuring container when the latter is filled, and means controlling the flow between the two containers whereby said overflow may be measured as one quantity with the contents of the measuring container by said responsive means.

9. In apparatus of the class described, the combination of a measuring container, liquid level responsive means for said container, indicating means actuated by said responsive means, an overflow container adapted to receive the overflow from said measuring container when the latter is filled, and means operated at will whereby said containers may be placed into communication with each other near their bottoms and whereby said containers may be emptied to a predetermined minimum level.

RALPH R. CHAPPELL. RUTGER B. COLT. 

